Want to be more productive? Have kids!

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Contrary to popular belief, parenthood actually makes workers more efficient at their jobs, researchers say.

You would think that motherhood would negatively affect your productivity at work, but according to research, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“There is widespread conviction that motherhood is extremely costly in terms of professional career advancement. In particular, it is often argued that the only way for young women to make a challenging career is to remain childless,” researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis wrote.

Parenthood makes workers more protective

After examining data from 10,000 female economists, the researchers found that motherhood doesn’t affect productivity. In fact, motherhood actually makes working women slightly more productive than their childless peers, the World Economic Forum reports.

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Not only did the researchers find mothers more productive than childless workers, they also discovered that mothers who had more children were also more productive than mothers of only one child.

What makes parents more productive? The researchers speculated that these parents probably planned ahead so that their careers wouldn’t be too affected when they started having kids. These women also probably worked harder early in their careers to prepare for parenthood, and this work ethic would carry over to their post-kid days.

“People will have less time to spend on their research when they become parents, but they might use their remaining time more efficiently,” Krapf explained to The Atlantic.

A lifestyle writer by day and a fictionist by night, Cristina can be found planning her next beach trip when she isn't working. She is a dog mommy to a Yorkshire terrier, who is turning four this year.